A Refutation About Animal Rights

Animals are mammals, just like humans. Thus, all animals should have the same rights as humans. This article brought up an interesting, yet questionable perspective on animal rights. When it comes to rights, Roger Scruton believes that “rights and duties” go hand in hand. He makes a point that animals “don’t have rights of their own since rights and duties go together, and since only humans have duties, he says that ‘the corollary is inescapable: we alone have rights.’” This is wrong to believe because all living, breathing things, especially mammals, should be entitled to the same rights.

This is also only applying to humans because we need duties to function in society, not to live. Animals do not have duties because their behaviors do not affect society in that way. Animals do not have limits that stop them from doing things because they do not have to face consequences, unlike humans who can face things such as jail. For example, if a lion kills an antelope there will not be any consequences for that lion because he is just doing what nature allows him to do. Humans and animals live extremely differently lives but regardless these mammals accomplish necessary duties that are needed within their own society and for their own selves, therefore the claim previously made is skeptical.

Humans have more advanced duties because our brains are further developed than animals but this does not mean that animals should not be entailed to having the same rights. Yes, animals are used as food and will continue to be for as long as eternity, but the way they are raised on farms and live their lives is still apart of their rights. Testing on animals does not permit them to having a long and happy life. Another point that he made was that people often think that humans are cruel for testing on animals not because the animals have rights, but because this then makes the human look cruel for doing so. However, this is wrong as well because animals still have consequences with nature for their actions but not when it comes to doing things that society would normally frown upon.